


One Step Closer

by the_dala



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: Bittersweet, F/M, M/M, Morning After
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 05:45:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4089184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_dala/pseuds/the_dala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack wakes from a pleasant dream into an even more pleasant reality.</p><p>(Backstory for <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/4020013">Adaptation</a>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Step Closer

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published November 30th, 2004. Title from U2.

Jack drifted into consciousness just as he did on so many recent mornings – with firm limbs wrapped around him, silky brown curls spread over his shoulder, the faint susurration of breath against his skin. A smile curving his lips, he started to twist himself against his partner before he froze. Best not to wake up just yet. He hated feeling the boy in his bed fade away like mist beneath the rising sun.

Yet even when his trapped arm began to tingle from lack of blood, the body lying upon it did not recede into wistful dreams. Jack lifted a hand in experiment, touched the face slack with sleep.

Will stirred, tucking his head more securely under Jack’s chin. “Jack,” he murmured, sounding content.

“Aye,” said Jack, surprised and pleased as the memories of the previous night began dropping back into his waking mind. He stroked both hands down Will’s sinewy back, kissing his brow. “Good morning, love.”

Suddenly Will stiffened, his head snapping up. Fuzziness cleared from his eyes as he stared at Jack, leaving him on the verge of panic.

“Jack?” he repeated, mouth agape. He scrambled backwards, nearly tumbling to the deck. Jack stretched leisurely, miffed that the warmth had begun to creep away from the side against which Will had been pressed.

The boy was shaking his head, face flushing as he took in their state of undress. “I don’t – Elizabeth –”

 _I adore that girl,_ Jack thought fervently. 

Out loud, he reminded Will, “Elizabeth was the one invited herself and yourself t’ my bed, in case you don’t remember.”

And she had remained for the duration of the evening, plying them both with drink, assuaging Will’s fears and provoking Jack with as clear a challenge as ever he’d seen. Whatever it had been, he supposed he’d met it to her satisfaction; she had slipped out a few hours ago, leaning down to drop a kiss on Will’s cheek and momentarily waking Jack.

They had not spoken, for the look on her face rendered it unnecessary. There had been calm acceptance there, a tinge of regret, the barest hint of bitterness. Jack would not begrudge her that; it was a hard thing she’d done, and he was more grateful than he’d ever be able to say. She had given him the opportunity to seek this when she could have dug in her heels and beaten him soundly. And she had given Will the freedom he would never have asked for, not after she lost the babe.

Will pulled away from Jack’s outstretched arm, his mouth set in a stubborn, worried line. “I have to find her, talk to her –”

“In good time,” said Jack, doubting that Elizabeth would appreciate any fumbling apologies at this hour. The boy bit his lip uncertainly, but he allowed Jack to draw him down against his chest. It had been even more difficult last night, and then he'd had a lively Elizabeth to help coax Will out of his reticence.

He was still tense, still trying to hold himself away even though he accepted Jack's attempts at caress. Jack bit back a sigh, knowing that the way wasn't clear yet and he was going to have to proceed carefully with this one. Will had worked himself up into such a knot of desire and guilt that not even the lass ceding her ground was enough to untangle it.

Jack loved a challenge. It certainly didn't hurt that he loved Will Turner as well, and Elizabeth too, for her pluck and her wiles and for the good turn she had done him. He would have been rather interested in what might have happened if she'd stayed to wake beside them, but he understood the reasons why she hadn’t. The balance was off; that much was made clear by the way Will had held to him in the night. Eventually jealousy would have set in and broken them apart – perhaps broken them all permanently. Elizabeth didn’t need that any more than Will did. Right now, what Will needed was assurance that blame for all the troubles in the world did not rest on his young shoulders.

"She knew, you realize," he said quietly, combing Will's hair back from his face. Brown eyes regarded him with anxiety - to believe him or not, Jack couldn't say. "I suspect she knew before either of us had any inkling."

"I feel..." He traced an arc in the air with one hand, voice tight with strain. "I know she acted of her own free will, but I can't help feeling I forced her to it."

Jack lifted an eyebrow. "Seems to me that our Lizzie's not a girl who takes naturally to bein' forced."

Will smiled reluctantly, and Jack could feel him wanting to relax. He dropped his head to whisper in the boy's ear.

"She made her choice, William. Tell me, what will yours be?"

For a long, breathless moment Will was silent. Then his rigid muscles unwound, prompting a soft grunt from Jack as he let his full weight drop.

"I never had a choice in you, Jack," he said, the unease gone from his voice as much as his body.

Jack took his face in one hand and set about convincing him with lips and tongue that it wasn’t such a bad thing, really. Will responded beautifully if a little shyly, though he was not nearly so skittish as he’d been last night, when he had been too overwhelmed by the rum and Jack's weather-beaten hands on him to do much touching of his own.

Now, however, it seemed he was making up for lost time. Jack murmured encouragement to the long fingers stroking curiously over his cock. Oh, he was going to have to get Elizabeth something really nice. A rich gown or a gem from the next plunder, perhaps – she still liked pretty things. Or maybe she’d prefer a finer scabbard for the sword Will had made her, or a cunning little dagger, or a new pistol, or...

Ever intrepid, Will kissed a path along Jack’s torso, right down to the dark thatch of hair between his thighs. Jack trembled with the effort of holding himself still, not wanting to frighten the boy. There would be time aplenty to teach him the finer points of a sailor's life.

At the first gentle touch of Will's tongue to his shaft, he decided he was going to buy Elizabeth an island. An island with a grand stone house and her own harbor with her own ship and a thousand maidservants to attend her every need.

No, manservants, he amended as Will puckered wet lips and took him slowly into his mouth. Devastatingly handsome manservants of every size and stripe, as far as the eye could see, loyal and devoted unto death, for the lass who’d given him one precious gift.


End file.
